A review by pomoevareads
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

adventurous challenging funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I had high hopes for this one going in but in the end I was more disappointed for its potential than its reality.

When I learned of this book, discussion about the themes tackled within had me very excited to read it. Climate change, colonialism, racism, sexuality, government oversight, and more were promised. And yes, all of these were touched upon and given some weight to the story. The story however moved from a bit of pop culture criticism and folly to confused jargon and finally to a stop action spy thriller. 

The story focussed on one of the characters brought forth from a different time period more than it did the others which didn’t bother me and this character was inspired by a real person from the failed Franklin Expedition. The author added in chapters about the Arctic expedition after an early reader who did not know about the expedition had difficult understanding the story. I enjoyed these chapters.

There is a love story in it that the synopsis gives away which was somewhat unfortunate. I wish the synopsis had not given away the who for instance. And while I did enjoy the development of this plot line and related ones, it wasn’t enough to redeem the book.

I am primarily a reader of literary fiction and I think that it’s important to mention here as my expectations of the book may differ from someone looking for a contemporary fiction book with some laughs, a little romance and a not too serious time travel trope. I feel like the themes could have been explored more deeply and could have done with less of the clunky action bit at the end. The author spells out the message on the last page of the book and without that I am not sure I would have come to the same conclusion. 
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